Halong Bay, Vietnam: Grocery Boat

January 2, 2011

I was fascinated by the phenomenon of what I'll call the "Grocery Boat" in Halong Bay. The tourist boat industry led to the creation of these Grocery Boats, since elaborate, huge meals are served on the tourist boats. With typical Vietnamese ingenuity and opportunism, the hard-working Vietnamese women jumped on the niche of delivering food to chefs on these tourist boats.

This female economy involved the women rowing hard around the bay, going from tourist boat to boat hawking their groceries. They'd ride right up to the back of the tourist boat and yell into the kitchen which has a door at the back base of the boat, right next to the water. You can hear them hollering their wares then loudly negotiating a hard-won price with the male chef on board each tourist boat.

All the while, many of them have their children with them. They do child care and work at the same time.

You might ask, "Where do they live this far out on the bay?" God knows, they're not zipping deep into the bay each morning on a high-speed motorboat, to go to work. No, they actually have floating villages in the bay too. Right next to the over-boat-touristed Sung Sot cave lies a floating village with little sidewalks that connect each floating house to the other. I tried to picture my kids running from floating house to house to play with the other kids every day, living as a floating villager.

Click here for a video of the grocery boat, with a brief glimpse of the floating village in the background.

Halong Bay, Vietnam: Sung Sot Cave

All the MANY tourist boats lined up to see Sung Sot cave.
So much for beating the crowds.

January 2, 2011

We woke early to find our boat had already pulled up anchor and set off to Sung Sot Cave. probably to beat the other tourists. Sung Sot cave is tucked into one of the limestone formations jutting out of the bay. Spelunking inside is far from roughing it. The cave path is like strolling on a sidewalk with steps. It's gloriously lit up in multi-colored lights. And, the kids ripped through the cave, having now become avid cavers.

Halong Bay, Vietnam: Luon Cave

Sea eagles circling over this mountain.

January 1, 2011

From our big boat, we took a small skiff out through Luon Cave to the other side of the cave hole, where we could see sea eagles circling over a mini-mountain and sea birds by the water. It was a peaceful, little lagoon.

Halong Bay, Vietnam: Titop Island

The staff from each boat face off on the sand football field.

Hiking up to the top of Titop Island, behind the Korean boatload of tourists.

He may be my favorite, most friendly monk yet.
Not a word was exchanged, but look at how giggly they both are together.

The view from top of Titop.

January 1, 2011

It was good to be on land for a while, after floating on the boat. The kids whizzed up to the top of Titop then spent the rest of the time on the sandy beach, losing themselves in drawing and running in the sand. I know now why all the tourists go to this island -- the outrageous views of gorgeous Halong Bay. This is the set of steps where Alice was stalked by the Korean girl tourists, yelling "Alixa! Alixa!" after I made the mistake of telling them her name. "Alixa! Sooo beautiful!" Abraham coached Alice how to hide and dodge the tourist horde.